Overview
- The NYU Langone and Columbia teams report in Nature that a gene-edited pig kidney co-transplanted with a pig thymus functioned for 61 days in a brain-dead 57-year-old man.
- The graft came from a Revivicor pig with a single GGTA1 edit removing alpha-gal, and the protocol ended by design after two months of stable physiological performance.
- Two rejection episodes were reversed using FDA-approved therapies—plasmapheresis, steroids, pegcetacoplan, and a T cell–depleting agent—restoring kidney function without lasting damage.
- Multi-omics profiling mapped three immune surges (innate at POD 21, macrophage/antibody at POD 33, T cell at POD 45) and flagged blood markers that signaled attacks up to five days before tissue injury.
- Researchers say the pig thymus likely promoted tolerance, the minimal editing performed unexpectedly well, unknown pig antigens remain to be defined, and funded studies will test immunosuppression strategies in additional patients with safety and ethical scrutiny.